See drafts of SLI's elections recommendations and updates on Broomfield's elections process at broomfield.org/elections.

In the months leading up to the Nov. 4 election, Broomfield will update its election procedures to include specific, step-by-step instructions for each person who collects, examines or handles ballots.

In the wake of controversy and legal challenges to last year's general election, Broomfield hired independent consultant SLI Global Solutions to examine past election problems, give recommendations for future elections and craft a detailed procedures manual.

At a City Council study session Tuesday, SLI representatives presented a draft of a detailed elections procedures manual, which offers proposed language to spell out the roles of full-time elections staff, part-time election judges and the canvass board.

The goal is to help Broomfield clarify and streamline the roles and actions of election workers to avoid confusion about ballots or ballot counting.

SLI "is working to bring clarity to who does what in the process," said Assistant City and County Manager Jim Becklenberg.

The draft recommendations include detailed, specific step-by-step directions for who should handle each part of the ballot counting and verification process. Details from the report include guidance on how to unseal ballots, fill out replacement ballot logs, collect ballots from places, such as health care and group residential facilities, and use the voter registration database.

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SLI's detailed procedures manual is part of a plan to overhaul Broomfield's elections process in the wake of the controversial Nov. 5 election, when Question 300, a five-year moratorium on fracking, passed by just 20 votes. That margin was determined after a recount, and the election results were further mired in a number of legal cases, which have all been resolved. A lawsuit over the moratorium itself is still pending.

SLI's presentation on Tuesday is the second in a series of recommendations SLI has prepared in advance of the November election.

Broomfield already has elections procedures in place, but the SLI recommendations are meant to clarify and update those procedures with more explicit instructions, said SLI consultant Al Davidson.

After City Council approves the final draft of those procedures, "you'll have one of the best-documented election processes that I've ever seen," Davidson said.

The first of SLI's reports, published in June, gave an initial overview of ideas and concerns leading up to the June 24 primary election.

SLI's first report stated Broomfield's election processes typically meet state rules and best practices, but Broomfield will have to tighten up regulations on how it sorts and stores ballots, communicate better with the Secretary of State's Office and update its residency requirements to meet new state laws.

Broomfield tightened up many of its procedures based on those June recommendations, and those procedures reflected well on the city after the primary, Davidson said.

Now, with the primary election behind it, City Council on Tuesday went on to examine the draft of SLI's second report, which gave detailed instructions and flow charts for how to apply stricter scrutiny to future elections. The report included suggestions on how to remove ballots from envelopes, verify ballot signatures, sort and store ballots and handle ballots that might be damaged or mismarked.

A final draft of the procedures manual will be done in September, so it can be used as a guide during the November election, Becklenberg said.

However, one challenge will be keeping up with changing state laws related to elections procedures, he said.

SLI representatives have been working with Broomfield staff to better handle state elections laws and to proactively ask for guidance when a rule suddenly changes, he said.

"We have to be more proactive than in the past," Becklenberg said.

At a City Council meeting on June 10, SLI gave a report on Broomfield's elections process. The initial report stated Broomfield could better handle elections by having stronger lines of communication with the Secretary of State's Office, especially after questions arose in November about who was eligible to vote on Question 300.

Part of the problem came from confusing new voter registration laws, which changed in May 2013 after House Bill 1303 was passed.

The 1303 rule change allowed people who have lived in Colorado for just 22 days to vote in state elections. But Broomfield required 30-day residency to vote on municipal questions, such as Question 300. That led to Broomfield miscounting 10 ballots because of residency mix-ups.

SLI's report stated Broomfield should now follow a new state rule that standardizes residency requirements, so all voters must live in Colorado for at least 22 days prior to the election.

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